


Dark Halls

by Rainbow_Captain



Category: Resident Evil - All Media Types
Genre: #Bear and Bae, After RE4, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, B.S.A.A., I made an RE1 joke, Infected, M/M, Picture Inside, Pre Re5, The love is real, fluffy sex, so proud
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-14
Updated: 2016-06-14
Packaged: 2018-07-14 22:38:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7193753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainbow_Captain/pseuds/Rainbow_Captain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chris and Leon are sent on a mission to search a factory but Leon starts acting strange...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dark Halls

**Author's Note:**

> Here with another story based on a picture from my friend. I wish I knew why this took me so long to write but it is what it is. I have a lot more pictures to write for so expect more stories!  
> Also in this story I changed the canon a bit to where Leon did not get infected in RE4.  
> Hope you enjoy!

Chris drove down the dusty road, wiping sweat off his brow after changing gears. Of course Chris got the jeep with the broken air conditioning, maybe they broke it on purpose to annoy him who knows.

He was rocked forward after hitting another rock under the tires. They could have warned him that these Egyptian off roads were going to leave him with a painful back.

He grabbed the map that was sitting on the other seat and quickly checked over it. The only left turning on this otherwise bland road was coming up soon and he didn't want to be an idiot and miss the damn thing.

Of course this would have been a lot easier if one person was driving and another person was reading the map. But a _certain person_ insisted on getting there as soon as possible while Chris wanted to go over one or two more things with the BSAA Operatives.

As Leon put it, "We have enough information. Now all we need to do is go in there provide evidence of the manufacturing of these BOWs so we can put an end to this war." Leon made it sound clean cut and simple. When the truth was even if they manage to shut down one manufacturer, another one will pop up eventually.

Chris turned down the left road. They would just have to deal with the next problem when it arose. But for now the mission was to investigate the production of BOWs at a location revealed by addresses stamped on crates shipped around the globe.

Chris squinted under the sun visor, he could see what looked like a factory building in the distance. _Not suspicious at all_ , Chris thought as he drove faster. As he got closer, the bigger the place got. It was easily over four stories high and looked like a small neighbourhood.

Chris smiled as he stopped near the entrance. There was the jeep that Leon sped off with a few hours before. He stepped out and circled round the vehicle, finding Leon leaning against the hood looking a little drowsy.

Chris couldn't help but smirk at him, "Been getting a nice tan?" He teased which seemed to jolt Leon awake.

Leon turned to glare at him, "That's what happens when you have to wait hours for your partner. What do I get for my troubles? Heat stroke and a damn mosquito bite." He huffed as he wiped away sweat from his brow.

Chris stepped closer to him and placed a hand on Leon's forehead, "You do feel quite hot. You sure you're gonna be alright?"

Leon gently pushed his hand away. "I'll be fine, let's just get this done." Chris couldn't help himself and leaned forward to softly place a kiss on Leon's forehead.

"You're right sweetheart." He marched back over to his car and grabbed his handgun and bear commander.

"HQ won't be happy to hear you call me that." Leon joked as he checked his handgun and assault rifle.

Chris simply shrugged and closed his car door, "They'll get over it and besides, I don't hear you complaining."

"It's more suitable to be used at home." Chris stood close to Leon, almost brushing his shoulder.

"In that case, I'll be sure to call you that a lot when we're finished here."

"Looking forward to it then." Leon teased as he slipped his handgun into his holster. Chris smirked as he did the same with his handgun and slid the strap of his bear commander over his head. "Let's do this."

Together side by side, they moved over to the large rusted metal entrance. Leon messed with the lock while Chris peeked through the glass on the side, it seemed empty. "Got it." Leon muttered as he pushed the door ajar and they both slipped inside.

The wind was whistling quietly though the empty halls, kicking up the dust on the floor. They were in a large room, cracked glass, rubber piping, rocks and nails all littered the floor. Large pipes and tanks made the room seem like a maze.

A spark came from the wall alerting both of their attention. "Someone's keeping power to this place." Leon muttered. Chris hummed in his throat in agreement.

"We'll search room by room, don't rush this." Chris ordered.

"Lead the way then." Leon said next to him, gun at the ready.

Chris took the first step further into the building, watching his every move and knowing Leon was right behind him. He crushed the glass under his combat boots and pushed some hanging wires out the way.

"Considering this place was abandoned over 20 years ago, you'd think someone would notice if this place was being used again." Leon said quietly behind him.

"We're so far out in the middle of nowhere, the only people around would be the ones to come work here." Chris responded as he ducked under some loose hanging rusty pipes.

Another spark of electricity made Chris stop, he looked over to a lever on the wall which was the source of the noise. "Think they just turned some things off?" Leon questioned.

"Maybe," Chris muttered as he walked over to the lever and touched the handle. "Maybe they saw us coming." It was bound to happen, their cars weren't exactly quiet and civilians wouldn't naturally be around here.

They both raised their guns at the sound of a door slamming in the distance. "So much for a simple in and out job." Leon groaned.

"Let's go." Chris said and made his way over to the exit. Together they pushed it open and it immediately looked different. It wasn't exactly clean. But it was a lot cleaner than the main room. There wasn't as much mess on the floors and the pipes looked used but not as badly rusted.

They were standing at the start of a long corridor with plenty of doors on either side. Any of the rooms could have something in them and they couldn't afford to miss it. "Room by room." Chris reminded Leon again.

"Got it." Leon walked over to the first door on the left and pushed it open with a loud creak. It looked like a simple office. A single desk and the metal remains of a chair. There was an empty bookshelf but no sign of papers being anywhere near it for a long time.

They closed the door halfway and went over to the first door on the right side. It was almost a carbon copy of the room opposite but they checked it anyway. They stepped out of the room and were about to go to the next door when Chris heard Leon groan.

He turned round to see Leon resting slightly against the dirty brick wall. "You alright?" Chris asked as he walked over to him. Leon immediately pushed himself off the wall and raised his gun. "I'm fine. Guess we've been having so much rain in the US that I'm not used to this heat."

Chris nodded but wasn't entirely convinced, "I'll lead." Chris offered, walking over to the next door.

Over an hour of searching had given them nothing and Chris was becoming concerned that Leon was looking more and more unstable on his feet. They walked into another office so Chris wiped some of the dust and rubble off the desk.

"Sit for a minute." Chris told him. Leon had slowly become more and more quiet as they searched the rooms and now just gave a small nod. He propped himself against the table and dropped his head.

Chris was feeling uneasy, a mission would have all of Leon's attention but right now he didn't seem to be all there. Chris dropped the butt of his gun on the ground and knelt in front of Leon.

"Leon? What's wrong?" He didn't get a response or any sign that Leon had heard him. "Leon?" He asked again to which Leon finally raised his head. He looked quite pale, something was wrong. "What's going on?"

"...Nothing..." Came a mumbled response.

"You clearly don't look well, maybe you're coming down with something." Chris stood back up and moved to turn his radio on. "We'll pull out, take you to a doctor." He told Leon and switched on the radio for it to crackle into life.

Out of nowhere Leon jumped up and grabbed Chris' hand on the radio. "No. I'm fine." Leon growled. Chris looked at him with wide eyes, where had the burst of energy come from?

He gently moved Leon's hand away and turned off his radio. "Stand straight and raise your gun." Chris instructed. Leon did with no signs of hesitation, he'd never seen Leon hold his gun so steady.

"I'm just a little tired." Leon said with a small smile, but the smile looked a little fake.

Chris huffed, "If you show anymore signs of illness then we're leaving."

Leon just looked at him before making his way out of the room. _This was not like Leon_ , Chris thought to himself. Leon would always tell him if something was wrong but this was just strange.

He stood close to Leon and together they continued searching the rooms. There was nothing, anywhere. Not even the occasional noise to signify they were being watched. The only event was Leon acting unsteady on his feet again.

They now stood at the end of the corridor. A set of rusty metal doors separating them from the next hall. He was about to attempt opening the door when a groan came from Leon and he fell against the wall.

Chris placed a hand on his shoulder to steady him but Leon was staring at the floor, refusing to meet his eyes. He rubbed his hand over Leon's synthetic shirt, it sticking to his hand slightly.

"Leon? What is it?" His response was a low groan and Chris could feel Leon's body tightening up. "Leon you know you can tell me when something's wrong."

Another groan and Leon dropped his head even further. Chris was about to ask again but he stopped himself when he saw the back of Leon's neck. Something looked... odd.

"Leon I thought you were up to date on your shots." Chris queried. He moved his fingers slowly from Leon's shoulder up to his neck. "There's... there's a needle mark on your neck."

That caused Leon to move, he began to raise his head but his face was still obscured by his hair. Chris leaned in closer when he thought he heard Leon mumbling something. "What? What did you say?"

Leon stood perfectly straight with his face turned away. "No heroics." He said only to confuse Chris. He slowly moved to look at Chris only for Chris' jaw to nearly drop.

A single blood red tear was rolling down Leon's face. Before he could say something, Leon moved at lightning speed. He shook Chris' hand off and ran to the double doors. Chris watched in almost disbelief as Leon nearly ripped the door off its hinges.

He sprinted after Leon only for Leon to swing the door backwards and hit Chris square in the face. He was staggered backwards and his vision was blurred. He saw Leon's figure tear down the passageway and disappear into one of the rooms.

He groaned and grabbed his head to try and compose himself. What the hell just happened? But he wasn't stupid, he knew what he just saw. The dizziness, the aggression and the bloody tear.

He nearly slammed his fist into the wall, Leon was infected. It would explain why Leon thought he'd been bitten by a mosquito, someone must have shot him with something from one of the windows while he was waiting for Chris to arrive.

They must have disappeared somewhere inside the factory when they saw Chris arriving. He dropped his head into his hands, everything just suddenly got even harder.

He couldn't radio anyone, they would just tell him to put Leon down. Or just as worse, they would tell him to bring Leon back so they perform some tests on him. Chris was left with only one option, he had to find a cure.

But just because infected were being created here, didn't mean the process could be reversed here. Even if he did find a cure, he would also have to find and catch Leon.

Leon certainly wasn't as big as him but he was agile and strong. Put that with being infected, stronger and more pain resistant, he wasn't going to come easy. There was also another problem. Even though the use of plaga was new, they already were garnering information.

They acted like a hive mind, almost like bees. So Leon probably ran to go and find other infected. Meaning whenever Chris found him, there would be a good chance that he wouldn't be on his own. If Chris was able to save Leon somehow, does that mean he should also try to save the others here...

He huffed and made his way to the door but stopped. Leon's last words echoed through his head 'No heroics...'. He knew what that meant. Which said Leon also knew what was going to happen. That's what they would always say to each other if they were involved in a mission together.

They both knew this job was dangerous and they both knew it would only be a matter of time before they were too exposed. Infection was going to happen eventually and they both agreed if one was turning then the other would put them out of their misery.

But those had always just been words. Chris had never had to act on them, they were often Leon's idea of romance in bed as they simply lay together.

A bang alerted him so he raised his gun, it came from somewhere through the metal doors. Chris looked at his shoes for a moment and then smiled, Leon wouldn't mind if Chris went against his wishes just this once...

***

Leon awoke to a face full of dusty concrete, he groaned and unintentionally rolled his face in it. He pushed himself up but only fell backwards, hitting the back of his head against a wall. His hands felt dry and gritty as he pushed his hair away from his eyes.

He didn't feel good, in fact he felt like he was dying. He dropped both his hands to ground, dying wasn't a metaphor, he knew he was dying. Once the dizziness and the shakes started, he knew he was going down a dark road.

He was stupidly stubborn, he didn't need to be told that. But he didn't want to tell Chris, even though he found out eventually. However stubborn he thought himself though, he knew Chris was worse.

If Leon told Chris he was infected then he would have to state the obvious, he would have to be put down. That was something Chris would never agree to, no matter how many times he promised he would in the dead of night with them both hidden under bed covers.

The truth was, Leon was scared. He knew he wasn't a superhero but something had to have been looking out for him in Raccoon City, where had they gone? Had his luck completely run out in one day? Now he was running away from the hands of the man who simply wanted him to survive.

His head started ringing and he lurched forward to cover his ears, the sound was almost piercing his skull. He tightened the hold around his head and gritted his teeth. As fast as the noise had started, it had gone just as quick. Leon let go of his grip only to see blood dripping onto the floor.

He felt warm liquid leave his lips and watched it fall. He was turning, fast. He was suddenly standing, no recollection of doing it. He realised the noise hadn't left, it was still there but sounded softer. His body was moving without him thinking, he was being summoned.

***

Chris was now staring at the other end of the factory. He had searched every room he'd found and there was nothing. No sign of anyone else, except for one room. There was scuff marks on the floor and a small collection of drying blood by the footprints. It had to be Leon and he was turning fast.

But where did he go from here? There were no more rooms on this level and he had yet to find a way to get to the upper floors. Every way which indicated he could go higher was either completely blocked off or had collapsed.

Chris decided to walk back down the corridor, there had to be another way outside. He dragged the main door back open and while sticking close to the wall, circled his way around the building. The brick work was crumbling and Chris was concerned if he pushed hard enough he could topple the building.

He passed one of the large chimneys and ducked under some tall pipes. No one else had been around here, no footprints or marks anywhere. It was very quiet, he would have thought someone would still be around to watch him. More to the point, how had Leon managed to disappear?

He pushed through some of the knee high grasses when he finally spotted a stair case. He made his way over, all the while keeping an eye out.

***

Leon stood quietly amongst the crowd, all of them in silence. Facing straight ahead, they watched the tall man loom over them all. Some of the crowd started mumbling but a noise from the front made them quieten down.

Leon just stared at the man, he could feel it, sense it. This man was in charge, no doubt about it. Leon felt weak against him, he was at the bottom of the chain and was here to do this man's bidding.

A piercing crash thundered through the hall, echoing down the tunnels. All of them turned to face the noise but it was definitely far away. The tall man started yelling, his words filling the chamber. Suddenly everyone started moving down the tunnels.

Leon might not have understood what the man said but he knew one thing, someone was here and they were being sent to kill the intruder.

***

Chris groaned as he lay flat on the ground, only having narrowly avoided another falling metal step. The rocks were uncomfortable on his spine so he rolled to his side. He coughed amongst the dust and rubble, staring forlorn at the now destroyed stairs.

He had climbed one set and chose to ignore the first few creaks, guessing it was from old age and it should take his weight. But after the twelfth or so step, the whole thing felt as if it was wobbling. His heart dropped when he saw the whole thing detach from the wall.

Of course when he tried to run back down, the metal steps had fallen through. Leaving him with no choice, he jumped over the railing, slamming to the floor and limping after from the falling metal. He covered his ears as an almighty and echoing bang nearly knocked him over as the stairs hit the ground, hard. He tripped as he tried limping backwards, falling hard on his knees. Metal pieces were flying all over the place and each individual step seemed to be coming his way.

He now lay flat and out of breath. The silence almost seeming strange as the dust was settling again. He groaned and pulled at his hair. He had to get up and start moving. There was no way no one hadn't heard that and they were more than likely coming to investigate what the noise was.

At least he would get a good view of who was around here and where they had been hiding. He looked around and spotted one of the chimneys still had a ladder attached. He shrugged off the stair incident and ran over to the tower and bravely climbed the rusty ladder.

He was about halfway up the chimney when he finally reached the small metal platform. He kneeled down and simply watched, the last thing he needed was this platform also collapsing. He shook his head at himself when he looked down, he really had made a mess with those stairs.

They had almost blocked him from going further in between the buildings so he was really counting on someone turning up. A few minutes went by before he finally saw movement. A figure was hiding behind the large building on the left.

Suddenly out of nowhere, a large crowd emerged from the side of the building. Chris' jaw dropped, there had to be over 30 people down there and they were all surrounding the fallen stairs.

From what Chris could see, their clothes looked messy, ripped and dusty. They must have been here a while. The Intel didn't specify when they discovered this place, experiments had more than likely been going on for months.

Which also meant if these people had been affected long ago, then the plaga had taken complete control over them. Meaning Chris had very little chance of saving them. Chris dropped his head, so many lives lost. Now he just had to hope Leon's life wouldn't be added to the toll.

He watched the crowd starting to disperse, watching them all disappear behind the building. _Guess that's where I'm going,_ he thought to himself. He gave the people another few minutes before deciding to climb down the ladder.

He dropped to the ground, with his gun at the ready and made his way over to the building. They had truly all disappeared. So he followed the disturbed dust on the ground, where they had all dragged their feet.

The marks led him away from the tall buildings and to a collapsing metal shed, it looked more orange than silver. The structure was small but that's where the footprints were leading him. As he got closer he could see a rotting wooden pallet lying on the ground, it took up the entire space of the shed. He ducked his head under the entry way and kneeled to look at the wood. He pushed it aside and he found a long ladder going down underground. No wonder all the people had vanished.

It would also explain why they hadn't seen anyone in the factory, they were all down here. He wasn't really left with much of a choice here. He hooked his gun over his back and flicked on the flash light attached to his shoulder strap.

Only way to go was down...

His boots splashed the water and he stepped away from the ladder. He turned around and his light shone down a long stone tunnel. He brought his gun back round to the front and slowly started walking, constantly watching for any small spaces where someone could be hiding.

But there was nothing. No big turn offs, nothing cut away. Just one long tunnel with a single rusted metal track running through the middle. At least he didn't have to worry about getting lost. But the longer he stayed in the tunnel, the worse he felt.

It smelt rotten and putrid plus he was possibly walking through sewer water. But no matter how bad he felt, he had to keep going. The infected couldn't have gone anywhere different, this was the only way.

Minutes went by and Chris was feeling more and more nauseous. Until he saw a supposed salvation. He could see the end of the tunnel and a set of stone steps leading upwards. He picked up the pace a little as he didn't want to kick the water too loudly and stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

He pointed his gun up and looked for targets, but it was very quiet. He took each step carefully until he reached the top, he turned on the spot and saw multiple doors in the dark space.

He walked over to the closest door and gently pushed the handle to test the lock. To his surprise it glided open so he aimed his gun through the door way but saw no one. He slowly stepped inside to see a bright white light in front of him. As he moved closer he saw all the x-ray pictures pinned to the light.

He grimaced as he saw the x-rays had names on them. Over thirty people, gone. Yet he was slightly thankful that he couldn't see Leon's name. He looked around the room and saw a couple of computers, he tried to power them up but nothing.

He read through a few files, he sighed as he read through all the failed test subjects.

He stepped out of the room, gun drawn and tried the next door but it was locked. The last door in the dark space also turned out to be locked so he walked over to the large metal doors.

He was able to push the handle down but unfortunately he had to really shove the doors to get them open. Causing a loud screeching noise. As soon as he was through the door, he had his gun raised. Ready to fight off anyone who came running to check the door.

It was silent for a moment. He kept his gun aiming down the corridor of flickering lights while stepping to the left to check the door. He pushed it open and went inside, careful to close the door after him.

The room had a large table in the middle with beakers, tubes, pumps and who knows what else. The outer ring of the room was desks covered in papers and files. He spent the next few minutes flicking through as much as he could with things ranging from 'How to toughen the skin' to 'How to mix rat and fly'.

Until finally, he let out an auditory gasp. He found a file with the title 'Possible reversal'. Sure it only said possible but it was a hell of a lot better than nothing. He studied the pages and saw the sentence 'most of these chemicals have been stored in the smaller room'.

Chris scanned the room and saw a wooden door. He walked over and pushed the door open. The room was small but filled to the brim with shelves of chemicals. He brought the file with him and closed the door behind himself. He placed the file on the work bench and read through it once more.

His mind was swimming, everything in the room was labelled but it only took one thing to make it wrong.

He found all the bottles he needed and began the process. Everything measured correctly, properly mixed, the right colours and thankfully no smoke or explosions. Where was Rebecca or Jill when he needed them?

He let everything settle for a moment and spotted some syringes in a clear plastic container. The file said injecting the liquid should work but it didn't say where, just another thing Chris hoped he would get right.

He stared at the grey coloured liquid in the glass beaker. That liquid was his only hope. His only chance to see his lover again. Leon probably wouldn't let him get too close so he would only have a very small window. He shook his head and decided to fill up two syringes.

The liquid bubbled in as Chris watched, completely focused. He couldn't get this wrong. Getting to 'the root of the problem' didn't feel this hard. He sighed through his nose, where had all the years gone...

He covered the needle tips and placed them gently into one of the attachments on his belt. He left the room, clutching the syringes on his belt. If this didn't work, he didn't really have much of a choice. A shot to the head and everything would all be over...

He sighed as he exited back into the corridor. First major step now was to find Leon and he had a feeling Leon might not want to be found. His only option was to keep searching all of the rooms, no matter how long it took.

He still couldn't hear anything, a lot of infected had to be around here somewhere. He moved over to a set of large double doors that were rusting around the edges. Gun at the ready, he pushed the handle down and was greeted by complete darkness.

His small light only illuminated so much, he couldn't see the walls or the other side of the room. He did make out some large tables but not much else. A bang behind him made him quickly turn round to see the doors had been closed. There was no wind and he was pretty certain they hadn't closed on their own.

He was about to reach out and touch the handle when he was blinded by a bright white light. He shielded his eyes as the whole room lit up. Pipes littered the walls, large machinery cluttered the ground with scraps of metal scattered everywhere.

As his eyes came into focus, he made a big discovery. Where all the infected had been hiding. Circling the wall was a metal walkway that was almost touching the ceiling and it was teeming with infected, all with their eyes on him.

"Didn't realise I was so popular." He muttered whilst clutching his gun. They controlled the situation, Chris just had to react. But none of them were moving far, they all stood as if they were dizzy, swaying slightly while keeping their eyes locked on him.

On the far side of the room, he saw a door opening from what must have once been the manager's office, overlooking the machines. A tall figure emerged and slowly walked down each step with a dull thud. His long brown coat dragged over the steps until he reached the ground and stood over seven feet tall.

He saw rags hanging from the man's face, they looked old and bloody. From a distance it seemed like he only had one eye visible, the other buried under the rancid bandages.

He stood and stared at Chris, just like the rest of the infected. Until a large grin appeared from behind grey lips, showing decayed teeth. This seemed to spring the infected into action and they all started shouting, hitting the railings and stamping their feet.

"Mahu! Mahu! Mahu!" They all chanted. _Guess that's this guy's name,_ Chris thought to himself. They screamed louder as the man started walking towards Chris.

He watched uneasily as the man tore off his coat and threw it to the side of the room. His brown trousers were torn and cover in blood spots, but his chest... Chris almost felt sorry for the man. His chest looked as if it had been ripped apart and put back together with massive metal staples.

The staples ran an uneven line down his stomach and around his heart with blood just seeping down the decomposing skin.

Chris quickly pushed the gun stock into his shoulder and opened fire. The shots were clean hits but they didn't seem to be fazing this Mahu at all. Chris shot a few more times but this thing wasn't even staggered.

Mahu suddenly stopped behind one of the machines with Chris keeping his gun sight on him at all times. He knelt slightly and Chris saw him pull out a huge wooden pole. He looked like he was having trouble lifting it and Chris soon saw why.

Attached at the end was a large piece of stone which had been shaped into a hammer. As if it wasn't bad enough, there seemed to be barbed wire wrapped around it. The infected shrieked in excitement as Mahu walked closer.

Chris focused and shot another round of bullets but nothing. His gun just wasn't going to cut it. Mahu raised his arms and smashed down at the metal table dividing him from Chris. The table bent in half and Mahu raised his arms to swing again but Chris dodged to the side.

Mahu immediately followed and slammed the hammer down on some machine which sent sparks flying. He backed away and ducked behind more of the machines. Chris panted, bullets just weren't enough. He had to find something else.

Heavy footsteps came closer so Chris looped around and ran to the other side of the room. The infected were yelling again, it was entirely possible that they were telling Mahu where he was hiding. His options were limited and in all honesty, his plan was rather stupid. But desperate times...

He stood up from behind a table and started shooting again, the bullets of course hardly broke the skin but it didn't matter. Mahu came closer, dragging the hammer behind him. He kept shooting from behind his cover until Mahu swung again and crushed the table.

With only a limited amount of time, Chris ran at him while he was trying to pull the hammer free. With his survival knife in his hand, he stabbed hard right into his open eye. Mahu screamed as Chris twisted the knife, wanting to get it as deep as possible.

As he started trying to pull the knife free, he froze. A head of blonde hair caught his attention on the walk way. Leon... he stood among the other infected, yelling just as loud. Except Leon was clearly shouting "Kill him!". Chris could only stare at him as if waiting for him to break out of his trance but he just kept yelling, wanting to see Chris' demise.

Two large hands were suddenly gripping his arms. Chris looked down only to be thrown across the room and slammed against a stone wall. He groaned as he rolled onto his back, thankful that he hadn't landed on his bloody knife in his hand.

He could hear Mahu groaning too, obviously angry to be without his sight. But it didn't seem to be stopping him as Chris heard the hammer being pulled away from metal. Chris hesitantly pushed himself up and saw Mahu. His bandages were covered in fresh blood and he was now swinging the hammer chaotically, crushing anything that he came into contact with.

Chris had a very small advantage now but still no real option on how he was going to get rid of him. His only choice was to search the room and hope he found something.

Staying low, he started checking all the machines. He saw what oddly looked like a loom, huge drills, conveyor belts, large tanks but nothing looked like it would really work. Mahu sounded as if he was getting closer, Chris just hoped he didn't destroy something useful.

Amongst Mahu and the infected yelling, Chris could hear his own laugh. He'd found something, a metal shredder. He peeked inside and saw the blades were already moving, now he just had to get Mahu over here. He spotted Mahu, walking around randomly and still swinging haphazardly.

Chris knelt down and checked his gun, no ammo. He sighed as he yanked the strap so the gun was resting on his back. He pulled out the handgun from his leg holster, would Mahu even notice if he got shot with this? With no other options, Chris took a deep breath and stood back up.

He aimed the handgun at Mahu's torso and opened fire. Chris soon realised he didn't need to be worried, Mahu came running. His feet slammed on the stone as the hammer collided with anything in the way.

Chris moved away from the shredder, he didn't want Mahu getting too close and demolishing it. He kept shooting as Mahu came closer. He dropped his gun immediately as Mahu, in all his rage, got the hammer stuck once again. At full speed, Chris threw a punch into Mahu's stomach.

The man stumbled backwards, letting go of his hammer in the process. Chris hurled punch after punch until he had Mahu right where he wanted him. He gathered all his strength and with one strike, Mahu lost all his balance. He spun round leaving his back exposed, meaning all Chris had to down was a simple kick and Mahu fell forward.

Chris watched his body become tangled amongst the blades. Blood splattered everywhere and pieces of body oozed from the pipes. Chris gasped out long breaths as the machine whirred, leaving Chris to pick off stray pieces of skin from his rather sweaty shirt.

He glanced up at the walkway, which had now gone extremely quiet. They were still staring at him but they looked very uncertain. They were almost looking at each other trying to figure out their next step.

Chris clutched his handgun, he would definitely be overpowered but without their leader... They all continued staring until Chris saw movement from the corner of his eye. He saw a few of the infected walking towards a door up on the walkway.

Soon the whole crowd was following on, Chris could only watch as they all started to disappear through the door. Did this mean that without a leader they would just scatter? Their knowledge of the plaga was still in its infancy so Chris could only guess from what he was seeing.

Chris spun round to look at where he had seen Leon, a sense of dread filled him where he couldn't spot the head of blonde hair. Had he just vanished along with the rest of them? No... Chris couldn't let that happen. Leon just couldn't become another statistic for how many they had lost.

He had to find him, get him back, no matter what. He would just have to keep searching and hope to find clues over where the infected had all gone. He saw a set of large dark green wooden doors in the corner of the room. Chris limped slightly over towards the doors. He would check the room then go back out into the corridor.

He leaned on the door for a moment to catch his breath. He was exhausted and his back was extremely painful. He used his strength to shove the door open and nearly fell through thanks to his unsteady feet. He was met with a blue hue and what sounded like bubbles.

His jaw fell as he saw huge water tanks with wires feeding into them from the top. They looked similar to the ones he saw in the Arkley mansion. But these ones were all empty, at least they were tyrant free. He moved closer, jaw tense he touched the glass.

What were they doing in here? Mutating the plaga? Or maybe creating more people like Mahu. Either one would be extremely bad for the world. He dropped his head against the glass and closed his eyes but a small noise made him tense. He saw a figure in the reflection of the glass and dodged to the side just at the last second.

A bang filled the room and the tank which Chris had been standing by shattered with the liquid spilling all over the floor. Chris was swift in aiming his gun at the figure but in a brief moment, almost lost all of his balance.

It was Leon. Or whatever was left of him. His eyes were a dark crimson with deep red blood dripping down his cheeks. The handgun aimed at his face made Chris stay where he was.

"Leon..." Chris started but Leon quickly moved closer and nearly pressed the gun muzzle against Chris' forehead. Chris pulled his neck back slightly and looked up at Leon. He looked as if he was torn between chewing on his lip or letting it shake.

"You can hear me..." Chris muttered aloud. Leon's eyes hardened but now his hand was beginning to shake. "Leon, listen to me. You can fight this."

Leon slowly tilted his head to the side, creating another trail of blood down his face. "Kill him..." Leon growled. _Not good..._ Chris thought. He speedily grabbed hold of the handgun in Leon's hand but was pulled closer to him thanks to Leon's strong grip.

He tried to yank the gun away but Leon was having none of it. If Leon got that gun back in front of him, he would be in big trouble. He slapped Leon in the face knocking him off balance so Chris used those precious few seconds to dash in between the tanks.

Leon was quick to open fire making some of the tanks explode, with pieces of glass flying everywhere and liquid flooding the floor. Chris kept his head low as bullets started flying through the room. Chris looked down at his own handgun, all he could really do was fire a few warning shots.

Maybe it would be enough to stop Leon from shooting. Chris waited patiently behind one of the intact tankers until the shots finally stopped. Chris was quick to lean round the side and expertly shoot just to the side of Leon's face. Leon grunted and moved himself too behind the tankers.

"Leon!" Chris called out as he dropped the empty gun magazine. "It's Chris! You know me!" He pushed in a new round and slid the chamber back into place. Something would have to get through to Leon.

His response was silence. He didn't hear Leon reload, move or even breathe. Chris hadn't hit him, that wasn't his plan at all. Chris leaned around the tanker again to have a look but he couldn't see anyone. Had Leon run away because of the gun shots?

A loud yell came from behind him making him jolt and turn round at lightning speed. Leon jumped at him holding his knife in a tight grip. Before Chris could duck out of the way, Leon made a deep cut right across his chest. Chris grit his teeth and fell backwards.

He breathed hard through the pain as he lay on the uncomfortable metal grating. He groaned as he tried shuffling away from Leon's knife that dripped with his blood. "Leon..." He attempted once more, "Don't do this..." Leon marched towards him with no plans of stopping.

Chris rolled to the side as he narrowly missed Leon's knife again which made a horrible sound from scraping the metal grating where he previously lay. Chris dragged himself to his feet and struggled to hobble away. The metal floor shook as Leon sprinted at him and kicked him to the ground.

Chris grunted as he fell on his arm at an odd angle, his immediate thought was that he broke it. Leon walked round to his front and kneeled in front of him. The blood on his face was all smudged and Chris couldn't help but notice he didn't look as confident anymore.

"C...C...Chr..." Leon stammered. Chris saw his eyes, they were still red but looked wet. Chris was about to say something but received a punch to the face, knocking him to the floor. "Leon... I know you're in there. Fight this!" He shouted. Leon climbed to his feet, leaving Chris with a boot to the face.

With his shaking strength, he grabbed onto Leon's leg and dragged it forwards so he smashed to the ground. Chris pushed himself off the ground, his left arm felt very fragile but he couldn't do anything about it now. He wiped the blood away from his nose and wobbled as he stood straight.

The blood from his chest wound had soaked his shirt and his eyes were getting a little hazy. Leon was rolling on the ground so Chris tried to move as fast as he could. He pulled one of the syringes from his belt and removed the cap from the top.

"Hang on Leon... we'll sort this." He said as he approached his lover. Leon immediately shot him a dark look and sprang to his feet, knocking Chris off balance for a second. The syringe fell out of his hand and in between the grating, completely out of reach. But Chris moved fast and pushed him up against a tanker.

 

"Leon stop this!" He yelled as he blinked hard. His vision was becoming blurry as Leon struggled in his grip. Leon grabbed onto his left arm and squeezed it, Chris breathed hard through his nose as his hold loosened. Leon kicked at his legs until he had enough space to brutally kick Chris in the stomach causing Chris to crash against the tanker opposite.

He slid down it with his legs out stretched and his arms fallen at his sides. He felt exhausted and he knew he was losing a lot of blood. His whole chest felt wet with blood and he was out of breath.

He watched through squinted eyes as Leon stood between his legs and raised his handgun at Chris' forehead. "Leon..." He whispered.

"F...Fight me!" Leon screamed as he pushed the gun onto his skin.

"I can't... I don't want to hurt you..." He muttered softly. If absolutely necessary, he could have beaten his opponent to the ground. But this was Leon, his adorable lover for many years. He couldn't hurt him, he would rather die first.

Leon dropped to his knees with the gun still aimed at Chris. Chris smiled at him, "I know you're in there Leon." He gasped for breath, "I know it wasn't truly you that did this... I love you." A new track of blood fell down Leon's face, almost like a tear.

"It's alright... it's alright..." Chris repeated again and again. This wasn't Leon's fault, he couldn't stop himself. The gun pushed Chris firmly against the tanker. However Leon was so focused, he didn't notice Chris' hand reaching toward his belt.

With the last of his strength, Chris grabbed onto Leon's shirt and pulled him forwards. The gun scraped across his skin as he pulled out his remaining syringe. Leon squirmed in his hold but Chris wasn't letting go this time. With one hand, he pushed the cap off the syringe.

"I'm sorry." He whispered and stabbed the needle into Leon's neck. He pushed the plunger down and Leon screamed into his bloody shirt. Chris threw the needle to the side and wrapped both arms around Leon's struggling body. He was gasping and panting, body twisting from side to side.

Until all noise stopped, Leon stopped moving and Chris could only feel the shallow breaths. He held onto Leon tighter and kissed the top of his hair, "It's alright... I'm here... I'll look after you." Leon would shiver occasionally but he was unconscious.

Chris was scared, what if he had injected him with the wrong thing? What if this antidote was only a theory and they had never tested it? Had he just killed Leon? He buried Leon's face into his shoulder and almost began to rock. "I'm sorry..."

He dropped his head on top of Leon's. He was so tired and now a lot of his blood was covering Leon. "We're gonna be okay..." He whispered as his eyes slowly began to close.

***

A noise woke Chris from his sleep, it sounded like a slow alarm clock. He tried to roll his head to the side but something was digging into his cheek as he pressed his face into the pillow. Apprehensively, he opened his eyes only to be greeted by a white light.

He closed his eyes again and groaned. For a few moments he lay still, trying to regain consciousness. It took another minute before Chris knew where he was, he was in a hospital. His eyes sprang open but he immediately squinted from the brightness.

The light slowly faded and Chris was greeted by his hospital room. Light blue room with a matching blue floor and a dark blue chair sitting under the window covered by blinds that were doing a terrible job of keeping the sun out.

He sat quietly, trying to run through all the events that led him here. The heart rate monitor increased as he remembered... Leon. He had to find out what happened to Leon. He attempted to push away the blanket that was covering him but found it extremely difficult.

He wiggled his weak arms out of hiding and was shocked to see a long arm cast covering his left limb. It was slightly bent at a comfortable angle but Chris could only move his fingers. His right arm was fine so he used that to throw the blanket away.

Finally sitting up, he threw his entire left side over to the right so he could use his fingers to remove the needle resting in his right wrist. Another beeping sound went off but Chris ignored it, he had to get out of the room. He pushed his legs out of bed and placed them on the cold floor.

He tried to use his arms for balance but his legs felt extremely weak so he nearly fell over. But he wasn't planning on going back into that damn bed, he had to find Leon. A glass door slid open and two nurses came rushing in, they certainly didn't look impressed that he was out of bed and had ripped all the equipment off.

They both grabbed his arms and slid him back to the bed, but Chris started kicking his legs like a child throwing a temper tantrum. "Let go." He growled, but it was obvious they were ignoring him. He shook his right arm free and managed to pull away from the other nurse's grip.

He limped his way to the door as fast as he could but bumped into a solid figure. "Get back into bed Redfield." A male's voice ordered. Chris took a step back and was met by the face of BSAA Director Clive R. O'Brian. He was of course wearing his green jacket that he never took off along with his simple brown work trousers.

His hair was looking a little whiter today, Chris couldn't help but notice. "O'Brian. Where's Leon?" Chris asked, he would have asked what O'Brian was doing here but he didn't really care.

"I'll talk with you as long as you get back into bed." He ordered and stood firm. If Chris was at full strength he would have argued with O'Brian every step of the way, but he was just too tired.

He allowed the nurses to help him back into the solid bed and they draped the itchy blue blanket back over him. "Tell me." Chris commanded. O'Brian didn't say anything for a moment, making Chris' heart sink. Had he killed Leon? He wasn't the praying type but right now he was seriously considering it.

"He's alive." O'Brian said and Chris gasped out a big breath. He dropped his right hand onto his face and tried to calm his breathing, he was alive.

"Thank god." He whispered.

"But..." O'Brian continued, making Chris stare at him. Of course there was a problem. "He's not awake yet."

"Why is that a problem? I only woke up today. How long have we been here?" Come to think of it, Chris didn't actually know where he was.

"This is your eighth day of being hospitalised."

"Eight days? Why? Why were we out for so long?" O'Brian smirked at him,

"Did you forget about the slice on your chest?" Chris looked down but he was covered by the white with blue spots robe. He lifted it up and saw a huge bandage wrapped around his chest, going around his back. "You had lost a lot of blood Chris. Frankly it was hard to tell if it was yours or Leon's blood when we found you."

Chris remembered how he had been lying, rested against the tank with Leon lying on top of him. Chris shot O'Brian a confused look, "How did you find us?"

"We'd lost contact with you for quite some time. We left it a while before the decision was made to send a team out to search. It was quite easy to find your footprints among others Chris." He let out a small chuckle but his smile dropped. "We also found the lab. We found no one but we did see what seemed to be a mangled corpse."

 _Mahu,_ Chris thought. "We discovered you and Leon in one of the back rooms. Thank god we all wore boots to avoid all that glass. We got you two out of there and brought you both straight to the hospital."

"Still in Egypt?" Chris mumbled as he tried to find a comfy spot on the bed.

"Still in Egypt." O'Brian echoed. "As soon as you're both stable enough, we'll fly you back to the US."

"I'm stable." Chris stubbornly argued, "So what's wrong with Leon? Aside that he's still not awake?"

"He wasn't as beaten or as bloodied as you but some of his tests came back with weird results. There was a strange substance in his body that they couldn't identify." Chris knew what it was. It was the serum he'd used to kill the plaga, but should he tell them?

If he mentioned that Leon had been infected then they would perform all sorts of god knows what tests. Leon would be poked and prodded within an inch of his life as they searched for something that wasn't in him anymore.

"You know Leon," He laughed through his nose, hoping it didn't sound too fake. "He's kind of a health freak, he's drinks all these weird health shakes." It was a flat out lie but they had no reason to do all those possibly fatal experiments on him.

O'Brian gave him a strange look, almost as if he knew Chris was lying but smartly chose to ignore it for now. "Let me see him." He wasn't wavering at all. O'Brian sighed at him.

"In a while. Right now you need to rest in bed. You already climbed out of bed and nearly fell over, so just lie patiently."

Chris was about to argue about it but decided against it. "You'd better let me see him soon." Chris groaned as he wiggled down in the bed with his eyes starting to close. As soon as he had enough energy, he would go to his lover.

***

The days ticked by and Chris knew the nurses were so close to deciding to lock him in his room. He was twitchy, edgy and extremely restless. If he wasn't asking about Leon he was trying to convince all the hospital staff that he was fine.

He ran a hand through his slightly greasy hair and tapped his toes against the mattress. He was bored and they weren't giving him anything to do. O'Brian would come back to check on him every so often but never stayed long, apparently he was always needed somewhere else.

It was frustrating because Chris felt like he was needed elsewhere too. He had stayed in bed, slept a lot of the time and ate all the disgusting food they gave him. It had to be enough soon, surely he must have filled the criteria for good behaviour.

Chris continued tapping when a nurse came in with a wheelchair. Chris looked over at her simple blue uniform with white overalls. Her blond hair reminded him that she was often the one to bring him the revolting food. So unless she wanted him to eat the wheelchair, something was going on.

"Redfield, in." She said in her clipped English. A lot of the nurses had grown tired of him so it was understandable they weren't happy to see him.

He shoved the blanket to the side and hobbled over to the wheelchair, dropping himself on the cool leather. She wheeled him out in silence and down the corridor. The tiled floor made the wheels squeak but it clearly didn't bother the nurse as much as it bothered him.

They turned a few corners here and there until Chris was well away from his room. "Where are we going?" He couldn't help but ask.

"Mr Kennedy. Awake." Chris quickly turned to look at her but she still had her stoic expression. He wished he knew the Egyptian for 'push faster'. They went down a long corridor and stopped in front of room 131. Chris was itching to jump out of the chair and kick the door open, but he stayed still. This nurse got a little frightening when angry.

She stepped to the side of the wheelchair and pushed down the metal handle. The simple blue door glided open and Chris could wait no longer. Even though it was extremely difficult with the arm cast, Chris rolled the wheelchair into the room and away from the nurse's grip.

The room was a mirror image of his own, except there was a smaller form under the blanket. He wheeled closer to the bed and let go of a heavy breath. Leon lay there, looking beautifully peaceful. His blonde hair looked a little greasy but his face looked quite immaculate, all things considered.

Looking closer, Chris spotted that his eyes were open in small slits. "Leon? It's me, Chris." He said, unable to hold back a grin. Leon turned his head slightly on the bumpy pillow to look at Chris but didn't say anything. "How are you feeling?" Chris asked but still didn't get a response.

Leon stared at him for another few seconds before turning his head to face the other side of the room. "Leon?" Chris tried once more but the nurse approached him and started to push the chair out of the room. "Wait!" Chris exclaimed as he gripped the wheel, making sure he couldn't move any further.

"Mr Kennedy need rest." The nurse warned him.

He looked back into the silent room only to see Leon was still facing away from him. "I'll come back soon, okay?" The nurse took him out of the room before he could hear a reply but he was worried that he wasn't going to get one even if he had waited.

***

The days dragged on as Chris stayed in his room. Day after day he would ask if he could go and visit Leon but he was always shot down with a plain and simple 'no'. Whenever he asked why, they would never give him an answer and would often just walk away.

O'Brian came to visit Chris the day before and the first thing Chris asked was why he couldn't see Leon. O'Brian looked perplexed for a moment before simply shrugging his shoulders and saying, "He's probably just tired." But that just wasn't enough for Chris.

He was getting fed up that he wasn't allowed to be near his lover. He had been replaying the day he had seen Leon over and over. He gave Chris such a blank expression, no signs that he was happy to see him. Of course Chris knew he must have been shaken from what had happened but he thought Leon would at least seem thankful to see Chris alive.

With only his thoughts for company, he was becoming more and more convinced that Leon must have asked the nurses to keep Chris away. Chris thought this would be a time when you would obviously want to be near someone you love, to help you through it. But this just confused him.

He was hoping that he would get an answer soon enough as O'Brian informed him on his latest visit that they would be going back to the US in a few days. Seeing as Leon lived with Chris, he was eager to get some answers.

***

Chris squinted as a gust of wind hit them as they walked closer to the plane. O'Brian was rambling on about something that Chris had stopped listening to ages ago. Every so often Chris would check over his shoulder to see Leon walking a few paces behind them. He never came close and he was constantly looking at the ground.

They climbed the thin stairs of the small white plane and were greeted by pale walls and a dark carpet. He stood near the entry way, making sure Leon got on the plane alright and wanting to see where he would sit. Leon climbed onto the plane quietly, pulling together his simple black jacket and went straight to the back.

He dropped himself down on the white leather seat that was right in the corner and away from all the other seats. He crossed his arms over his stomach and stared out the window. Chris was about to walk over to him when O'Brian grabbed his arm.

"Leave him be." He muttered and pulled Chris over to two seats that were divided by a small dark wooden table. Chris sat down, elbow on the arm rest and dropped his head on his palm.

The three of them stayed silent as the plane was cleared for takeoff and started moving. Only when they were in the air and the turbulence had stabilised did Chris start speaking. "Why isn't he talking to me?" Chris asked as O'Brian was busy pulling out documents from his old and battered brief case.

O'Brian glanced up at him, "He's probably just tired."

"Do you realise how many times you've used that excuse?" Chris sighed as he leaned back on the cool leather.

"I apologise for not being well versed about Mr Kennedy."

Chris frowned at him. "Is that supposed to be funny?"

"Look. I don't know exactly what went on in that mission when he was out of your sight." Chris kept his expression hard. He had explained to O'Brian that there was a collapse in the tunnel which caused them to be separated. He made the decision to keep what truly happened to himself, he knew it was selfish but he didn't want to expose Leon to the horror of experimentation.

"But," O'Brian continued. "Something obviously happened that has shaken him. So just give him a bit of time and talk to him calmly. Don't go firing question after question at him, you'll just frustrate him. I've seen what you two are like when you start butting heads."

Chris couldn't help a small smirk, they were certainly as stubborn as each other. But this was a problem that needed solving.

Chris stood slightly from his seat to get a peak of Leon. His head was lying on his shoulder, eyes closed and breathing soundly. He looked beautiful even when he was clearly tormented.

Chris wasn't going to go over and disturb him. But when the plane landed, he wanted to talk.

***

After landing at the main branch of the BSAA North American unit and being forced to have a once over from the medic. O'Brian practically shoved them out the door with orders to rest up for a few days.

They both walked in synchronisation to one of the little jeeps that were always outside the building in large supply. Chris climbed into the driver's side of the white car while Leon silently placed himself in the back. Chris was about to ask what on earth he was doing but held his tongue, it was pointless to argue on the drive home.

Chris let out a little smile as he pulled the car onto the bricked driveway and stopped the car in front of their bright white garage door. Chris stepped out the car and looked up at their house. It was mostly brown bricks with a few darker blocks here and there.

They had a small patch of grass with what looked like slightly rotting plants. Leon insisted on the small garden but with both of them gone for a lot of the time, the plants fell to the bottom of the priority list.

Chris watched as Leon paced over to the pale green door and was quick to unlock it. He stepped inside the house and disappeared, Chris hadn't seen him move so fast in days. Chris followed him in and dropped his keys into the familiar ceramic pot.

Considering that they hadn't been home for a while, the house looked to be in pretty good shape. The cool grey corner sofa still had the obvious wrinkles in it, easy to see even from a far distance.

Last month's gun magazines laid open on the dark wooden table to where Chris had read up to while waiting for Leon to say he was ready for them to leave for the mission.

He walked through into the kitchen, he saw quickly that the dark wooden floor was collecting dirt but it could wait for another day. He dodged round the dark walnut counter in the middle and poured himself a glass of water. He leaned against the counter while sipping at his water.

He deduced that Leon must be hiding in their bedroom so he thought he would go and quietly check up on him. He tipped the remaining water away and headed for the stairs. His body felt tired as he climbed up, plus the jet lag was making him feel a bit fuzzy but he tried to ignore it.

He politely knocked on their bedroom door. "Leon?" He called through the door but didn't get a response. "I'm coming in." He announced as he pushed open the door. He quietly stepped into their 'oak' coloured bedroom as Leon was always was fond to correct him on the colour.

He saw the bumps of a person lying under the thick duvet cover. He went over to Leon's side of the bed and knelt down. Leon's head was just peeking out above the covers with his blonde locks sticking out all over the pillow. He had his eyes closed but Chris knew that even Leon couldn't fall asleep that quickly.

"You want something to eat?" Chris whispered. He waited patiently and nearly smiled when he saw Leon faintly shake his head, at least it was some sort of response. He stood back up and started to leave the room when he stopped. He was about to open his mouth but he paused.

He wanted to so badly ask Leon what was wrong but he just couldn't do it. Leon was an extremely stubborn man, so Chris just hoped that Leon would approach him when he was ready.

He walked out of the bedroom and plodded back down the stairs. He decided he would waste a bit of time by making a sandwich and flicking through gun magazines. Tomorrow was another day and Chris hoped with it, Leon's mood would brighten.

***

Chris awoke to something warm hitting his leg. It felt like it was trying to kick him out of bed. His eyes slowly opened in the darkness, he glanced over at his alarm clock which read 2:08 am. He groaned as his body was pushed again so he rolled back the other way and was nearly face to face with Leon.

From what Chris could make out, he was sweating and whimpering very quietly. He constantly let out little noises as his lip twitched and he shook his head from side to side. His legs flailed under the covers and hit Chris once more. Leon was having a nightmare, Chris deduced as his mind was coming out of its slumber.

Chris dragged his arm out from under the duvet and gently placed it on Leon's sweaty cheek. Leon instinctively leaned into it as his breath quickened. He ran his hand down Leon's black pyjama top and lightly pushed at his shoulder. "Leon. Wake up." He said just above a whisper.

He pushed Leon a little harder when he suddenly opened his eyes and gasped. He looked absolutely shocked to see Chris right next to him. "You were having a nightmare." Chris explained softly and began rubbing his shoulder. He could just about make out Leon's eyes darting from side to side before he threw the covers to the side and scampered into the bathroom.

Chris leaned back over to his side to switch on the small lamp. Even as small as it was, it felt like looking into the sun. He peeked through his eye lids till he adjusted to the light. He looked back over to see the bathroom door had been closed and saw the light shining underneath the door frame.

He lay quietly and waited. It was extremely rare for Leon to have a nightmare. Leon had mumbled something once that he would sometimes have bad dreams about Raccoon City, but he insisted that were just bad dreams. Chris was quite shocked when he returned from Spain rather level headed.

He never complained about feeling shaken or disturbed about what he had experienced. He persistently reminded Chris that the only reason he dreamed about Raccoon was because he had been young and had never seen anything like it before.

But for Leon to be having a nightmare now, Chris really needed Leon to speak his mind so he could help Leon through it. He remained upright in bed while he assumed Leon was collecting himself or washing his face. The door of their en suite eventually creaked open to reveal Leon stumbling back into the room with his black top and pyjama bottoms looking a bit sticky from sweat.

He eyed Chris and just stood there, showing no signs of getting back into bed. He stood still and just stared to the point that it was starting to freak Chris out. "You alright?" Chris tried but Leon stayed still with a frown on his face.

"Rare for you to have a nightmare. What was it about?" Leon moved to the foot of the bed almost making it his stage.

"...Do you really have to ask?" Leon mumbled. His voice sounded gritty and rough, days of being quiet almost made it sound like he was growling.

"The mission?" Chris guessed. "We're both alive and back at home. We couldn't have asked for a better result."

Leon scoffed, "Do you really think we're okay? After everything that happened? After everything... I did..." Chris pushed the covers off and sat up further.

"I'm not angry with you if that's what you're thinking." Chris answered, slightly cocking his head. "Do you really think this is the first time I've had a fractured bone?" He lifted up the arm cast for Leon to see but Leon's eyes were drawn elsewhere.

"And that?" Leon murmured as he pointed at Chris' chest. Chris looked down at the long scar across his pectoral muscle. The scar still looked prominent but it would eventually fade. "It's just another scar. It's not like I haven't got others." Chris argued.

Leon huffed and grabbed his hair. "You are missing the point completely. Or have you forgotten?" He said with his hair now in a tight grip. "I did that to you! I hurt you! I nearly made you bleed to death and you ended up in a hospital! I shot at you, hell bent on killing you! How can you just ignore something like that?! I put a gun to your head and watched you get beaten by Mahu! Are you seriously telling me you're not angry with me?!"

Chris just watched him as he panted, he almost looked scared. Chris just smiled at him, "Because it wasn't you." He simply said. Leon's shoulders dropped as he looked at the ground. "You were infected." Chris continued, "You couldn't control yourself."

"I could see everything I was doing." Leon whined, "I couldn't stop it. I was screaming inside my head."

"It was the plaga. Those choices weren't yours. The plaga tried to kill me, not you."

Leon turned his back to Chris and looked like he was hugging himself. "There's a reason why people in this life don't have relationships." He mumbled.

Chris was quick to shoot out of bed and marched over to Leon. He placed a hand on his shoulder and turned him back to face him. Leon looked afraid, his hair was all ruffled and his eyes were glazed over.

"I have to look at that every day and will be constantly reminded of what I did." Leon murmured as he ran a hand over the long scar on Chris' topless chest.

"And I will be there every day to tell you that it wasn't your fault and that I don't blame you." Chris said quietly.

Leon looked like he was fighting a losing battle and dropped his head on Chris' shoulder. "If our roles were reversed, you would constantly be telling me that it wasn't my fault." Chris explained. "Us getting infected was bound to happen sooner or later, that's just the world we live in."

"It doesn't make this any easier." Leon said muffled against Chris' skin.

Chris laughed through his nose, "I know, but at least you have someone to talk to about it. Would you truly prefer to be alone after something like this happens?"

Leon rubbed his head against Chris' chin in response.

"Here you're safe. You're with someone who loves you, who will do all they can to protect you." Chris mumbled into Leon's hair.

"...I'm sorry." Leon whispered.

Chris gently kissed his head and slowly began to walk him back into bed. Leon lay facing away from Chris so Chris could hold him from behind and rest his head on Leon's shoulder.

Chris' mouth was brushing Leon's ear as he spoke in hushed tones. "Do you regret being with me?"

"No." Leon whispered immediately.

Chris kissed right under his ear, "Do you really want to end what we have?" Leon turned his head as much as he could so he was able to look into Chris' eyes.

"Never." Leon brought his neck up slightly so he could kiss Chris. Chris brought his head down and kissed Leon eagerly. Leon's lips were warm but so soft, Chris slowly pushed his tongue between those lips. He was so hot as Chris wrapped his tongue around Leon's to deepen the kiss.

Chris cursed the damn arm cast as he tried to run his hand down Leon's chest and push down his pyjama bottoms. Leon shuffled slightly to help and dragged down his bottoms and underwear in one go, throwing them away from the bed and onto the floor.

Leon reached back and helped do the same for Chris, for once Chris wasn't happy that he slept on the left side of the bed as right now he was lying on his right arm. He dragged his right arm out of hiding and held Leon closer. No clothes separated their skin as they kissed with more passion.

Chris' right shoulder felt rather uncomfortable but he didn't care, the pain was worth it. He ran a single finger down Leon's back causing him to shiver and gasp. He ran his finger in between Leon's ass and slowly prodded at Leon's hole. Leon writhed from the long absent touch and leaned back into it.

Leon's skin was dry but smooth so Chris didn't push too much yet but Leon seemed to get the message. He pulled away from Chris' embrace for a moment and Chris heard the sound of a draw opening and closing. He smiled and brought his right hand up for Leon to see.

Leon dropped some lube onto Chris' fingers so Chris kissed his neck in thanks. He moved back down to Leon's ass and leisurely began to work him open. He heard Leon groaning and tilted his back to gain another kiss which Chris happily gave him.

He slipped two fingers inside Leon when he felt something cool and wet touch his cock. Leon was rubbing lube over him and it felt oh so good. It didn't take long for Chris to get hard, Leon's moans had got him most of the way there but his hand was the final touch.

Chris pushed his fingers in further and gently coated Leon's walls, he felt so hot inside and they were both clearly getting impatient. He pulled his fingers out and pushed his cock in between Leon's ass cheeks so he was rutting. Leon groaned as he tried leaning back to get more.

"This what you want?" Chris teased into his ear.

"Chris..." Leon moaned but Chris knew it was a cute warning to get a move on.

Chris was happy to oblige him and slid into Leon's tight, hot channel. Leon gasped loudly and brought his head back for Chris to kiss his neck. Chris made a large hickey onto the skin as he did his first thrust.

Leon groaned loudly as he grasped onto Chris' cast arm and pulled it tighter around him. Chris moved closer making his thrusts small but hard. He swivelled his hips then would jolt forward. Leon was gasping from every move which is exactly what Chris wanted.

He wanted so badly to remind Leon that he would always be there and his love was never ending. He held Leon close with his right arm that was still a little sticky from lube but neither one cared. He was too busy covering all of Leon's body with kisses.

A perfectly aimed thrust had Leon moaning at the top of his voice. "Right here?" Chris teased even though he clearly knew what he'd just done.

"Yes..." Leon responded, he didn't seem to notice that Chris was only joking. He looked so far gone, he was blushing with hair sticking to his forehead and his eyes were clenched shut.

Chris thrust his hips again, knowing just where to move. He was determined to bring Leon to ecstasy and completely drive him over the edge. Chris groaned into Leon's shoulder from how tight Leon felt, it was all he needed but he wanted Leon to get there first.

He wrapped his uncast hand around Leon's cock and starting rubbing him. Leon began panting and Chris knew he was nearly there.

"Chris... Chris... oh!" Leon gasped and he was gone. Chris moaned as his channel tightened and Leon came, strand after strand. Leon was out of breath and shivering as Chris continued thrusting into him through the aftershocks.

"Leon..." He groaned into Leon's skin as he came deep inside of Leon. It felt so hot, Chris thought he would melt. They both were panting heavily as they slowly began to come down from their highs.

Leon moaned quietly as Chris pulled out and got out of bed on wobbly legs. He grabbed a cloth from the bathroom and came back to see Leon lying on his front completely exposed. He smiled softly and began to wash him down.

Leon was beginning to nod off when Chris had finished and threw the wash cloth into the sink. He wandered back into the bedroom and turned off the small lamp. He stayed naked as he climbed back into bed and held Leon once more.

"I love you... don't ever forget that." He whispered into Leon's ear. Leon grabbed both of his arms to wrap around him tighter.

"Don't go..." He mumbled sleepily. Chris chuckled and kissed his hair.

"There's no place I would rather be... sweetheart."

 


End file.
